Magical Pedri spectacular goal seals all three points for Barcelona against Sevilla. Barcelona defeated Sevilla on Sunday evening to move second on the La Liga table. The goal came courtesy of Spanish number 10,Pedri as his strike ensure Barcelona continues thier current unbeaten streak under Xavi Hernandez.
The Blaugranas and their opponent Sevilla were the two sides that haven’t lost since the start of 2022 in La Liga going into the encounter with both sides needing the win to catch up with run away leaders Real Madrid.
Barcelona coming from their recent demolition of Real Madrid and Sevilla still Mauling over their lost in the Europa league to West Ham came in to the game low on confidence with their coach warning his side of Barcelona’s threat, he said before the match
“We have to beat the most in form team in the world right now. Not only in Spain, they could win the Champions League at this moment. It’s clear that they have one of the best squads in the world.”
Barcelona started the half with real purpose as Ferran Torres fired a shot that sailed over the bar an early warning for the Sevilla backline.
Sevilla though they should have had a penalty when on loan Manchester united winger Anthony Martial cross clipped the hands of Ronald Araujo whose hands were in the Natural position, the refeere rightly rulling out the decision.
Dembele then slided a ball through to Aubameyang whose shot across the face of the goal was paried by Bono the goalkeeper who was equal to it, Although he almost spilled it only to recover it before the lurking Ousman Dembele could get there.
Dembele was a huge threat and he danced through the Sevilla defense before teeing the ball for Torres whose shot was saved by the impressive Yasin Bono.
Contract rebel Ronald Araujo would go close as his header shaved the post and went out for a goal kick.
Sevilla looked to take the lead through former Barcelona star Ivan Rakitic whose free kick sailed over the bar with Ter Stegen scrambling to his right.
Gerard Pique one of the highest scoring defenders in Europe saw his shot tipped round the post by Sevilla shot stopper Yasin Bono, and he also saw his header crash off the post from the resulting corner as Sevilla were compact at the back.
Dembele was then picked up at the back as his shot went off the mark after looking like he was going to score.
On the 70th minute Sevilla broke on the counter and the ball found its way to Anthony Martial who shot straight at Barcelona goalkeeper Marc Andre Ter Stegen.
Barcelona would eventually have their nose in front as the electrifying Ousman Dembele found space down the right before playing a neat ball through to Pedri Gonzalez who twisted, turned, dummied four players before firing the into the bottom corner, a goal worthy of winning any match.
Barcelona midfielder Gavi saw his header saved by Bono. At the other end Marc Andre Ter Stegen spilled a shot and recovered on time to preserve his clean sheet. The match ending in favour of the Blaugranas who leapfrog Sevilla into second place with a game in hand.
Man of the Match Pedri Gonzalez spoke about his goal
” The truth is it always nice when you see a chance and score, and that’s what I did. We knew that Sevilla is a good team, they play good football, we knew it would be difficult, but we pleased with the point.”
He further added;
” It’s Madness to here your name chanted by over 60,000 people, they’ve always treated me well since i arrived. We know it’s difficult, but we’re going keep fighting for everything, we’re Barcelona and that’s what we have to do. We know it’s difficult to reach Madrid but they’re having their problems as well”.
Xavi Hernandez also added after the match;
“Sevilla played an excellent game. We are talking about a big team with a veteran coach, we had difficulties in the first half. Pedri is a very important player who makes the difference. He played a perfect match, like the rest of the team. A player like Pedri should finish the season with a lot more goals. We are working on that. We played a nearly perfect game. We’re at our best.”
Barcelona will look to continue their rich vein of form when they take on German side Entriant Frankfurt in the Europa league on Thursday.
